Prelude to Inheritance
by NyanNyan-suru
Summary: Change is not easy. Sawada Giulio learns this fact when his father moves them to Namimori, Japan. While his twin, Yoshitaka, seems to be doing okay, Giulio still can't quite get his head around the whole "friend-making" thing. Or figure out how to stop his classmates from bullying him. Or how to not get bitten to death by the resident fight maniac...
1. Target 00: On The Outside

**A/N**

 **Guess who's back! It's been so very, very, very long since I've touched The Inheritance Project, but I've randomly been back into KHR again and was thinking about it a lot. I had many new ideas and no motivation to try and finish what I already had (honestly the old version was kind of a train wreck, even I didn't know where it was going)... SO, I'm gonna try and rewrite the whole thing again from the beginning!  
**

 **I wasn't actually going to post this here, since I'm on Ao3 these days and I have plans to add a cover picture to each chapter (which is just one of the many things that Ao3 lets you do that does not), but I figured, what the heck. If ya want to see the version with art, there's a link in my profile to my Ao3 account (let me know if it works or not, kay?). Also, f** **or those of you that are familiar with the old version just a heads up, a great many things have changed.**

 **Wrapping things up, assume all dialogue is in Japanese, unless it's in italics.**

* * *

In this world there's a magic circle that can neither be seen nor touched. Its magic separates people into two types: those who belong on the inside, and those who belong on the outside.

I am a person who belongs on the outside.

" _Here it is; our new house_." Aunt Katerina finally broke the quiet that had settled since we first clambered into the car at the airport.

She likes to drive in silence. She likes to do a lot of things in silence. Even so, Katerina is a person that belongs on the inside.

The car rolled into a garage attached to a plain, cream-coloured two-story house that looked like a slightly newer version of every other house on the street. The front yard looked way too neat, almost like it was made of plastic. A boring plastic house with a boring plastic garden; I wonder if the town is full of boring plastic people too.

A brown-haired woman comes running up the street towards us, arms waving wildly and smiling so wide I think her face might split. A blonde haired man with an equally large, much goofier grin came running up behind her.

"Obaa-chan!" Yoshitaka yelled. The car door slammed shut with a heavy thunk behind him as he ran out to meet them.

I stayed in the car a while longer, watching him jump into Nana-obaachan's arms and be swung around, laughing all the while. Iemitsu-ojiisan ruffled Taka's hair, making him pout and fuss over it. He then got picked up and thrown into the air. I bet you could hear the squealing all the way down the street.

The three of them are the type that belongs on the inside too.

"Mrrreow?" Celica glared up at me from inside her cat carrier.

She's been in a bad mood ever since she had to be stuffed into the carrier. The plane ride must have sucked for her even more than me. Why couldn't she have just come on the plane together with me? She's always quiet, and doesn't take up much room. It wasn't fair.

" _Sorry_ ," I murmur and grab my backpack, " _let's go."_

Taka was sitting on Ojii-san's shoulders while he and Obaa-chan talked to Katerina. I got my hair ruffled too, but I didn't make a fuss about it like Taka does. It's always messy, sticking up in random directions, and it's just too much effort to try and fix it. I pulled my hood up over it instead.

"My! How cute!" Nana-obaachan cooed and gently tugged at the cat ears on my hoodie. She then pulled me into a bone crushing hug, my face squished into her belly. I tried to return the hug with one arm, but it felt awkward. I don't really want to put Celica's carrier down though, so awkward hug it is, I guess...

She pulled back and started chatting away. Obaa-chan always talks to fast for me to follow, so I only got like three, maybe four words. Most of that was when she bent down to coo at Celica, who kept moving around and poking at the little door, clearly wanting out.

She finally let me go when Taka showed off his hoodie, which matched mine, only it was in red instead of purple.

A big truck pulled up in front of the house. It must be the movers with the rest of our stuff.

Ojii-san put Taka down, " _How about you two go and explore the house_?"

" _The bedrooms are upstairs. You can pick whichever one you like_." Katerina nodded towards the house. Taka was already running to get his backpack from the car.

" _Is it okay to let Celica out now_?" I ask, but she was already walking away to meet the movers with Ojii-san, and Taka was dragging Obaa-chan inside with him.

It should be fine, right? They said she might be confused and scared in a new place, but Celica is smart. She wouldn't just run away. Maybe if I put her leash on just to be safe... yeah, that should be fine. It's a good thing it was one of the last things I put it in my bag, or I'd have to go digging around for it.

The bell on her collar jingles as she practically leaps out of the carrier the moment I unlock it. She lets me put on the bright orange harness and leash without much fuss. Celica is usually pretty good about keeping clean, but since her fur is mostly white it's easy to see when she's all dirty. It looks like I'll have to give her a bath later.

Maybe getting all cleaned up and then good brushing will cheer her up.

I put the carrier down against the wall, hopefully out of the way, and we follow the others inside. Why are there are shoes lying around in the entryway? Oh, right, you're supposed to take them off before going inside. Obaa-chan's house is like that too. Ugh, that's going to be annoying. I kick my shoes off and let Celica lead the way in exploring the house.

It's so small compared to our home back in Italy. Everything is squished together, instead of being separated by long hallways; ancient hallways that are decorated in stories and hide secrets around every corner. This house is brand new with no secrets to hide or stories to tell. There's nothing much to see, so we head upstairs. Celica takes her time testing out the steps as we go.

Taka comes running down the stairs, and nearly runs into us. But then he sees Celica and shrieks, plastering himself against the wall.

" _Scaredy cat."_

" _Shut up!"_ He shouts. The tips of his ears go red when he blushes. " _I'm telling you, that's not a normal cat!"_ He shrieks again when she turns to glare at him and somehow manages to crabwalk down the rest of the stairs with his back still stuck to the wall.

Celica hops daintily up the remaining steps with her nose in the air.

He only says that stuff about her because her eyes don't match; the right is a caramel brown while the left is a sky blue. She'd probably be nicer to him if he wasn't so mean to her. Papa and Katerina can be nice to one another even though they don't getting along.

The rooms upstairs pretty much all look the same, just different sizes. Taka's picked one of the bigger rooms, given the way his stuff is lying around in there. The room next to it seems okay, I guess... Celica tugs on the leash, heading to the end of the hall.

There's a door – which leads to a closet, apparently – next to a small staircase that appears to lead up into the ceiling. Its steeper, a bit more like a ladder, only it looks sturdier than one. Huh, guess this place does have a few secrets after all.

Celica slinks faster up the stairs this time, and is pawing at the ceiling, which turns out to be a door that opens upwards. Cool, like a trap door.

It opens up into another room. The floors are made of wood, the ceiling is slanted and there's a single window with see through curtains. It feels further away from the rest of the house, even the all the noise from downstairs is quieter.

The view from the window is nice enough, everything is at just the right angle so we can't see anywhere we don't want to, and no one can see up at us either. The curtains are thin and lacy, like they're made from spider silk. It feels nice between my fingers. Celica deems the windowsill a good place for sitting, more so when I open the window and a nice breeze floats in.

The sky feels really far away. Back home it seemed much closer as if you could reach out and touch it, but here...

I reach up my hand, the light catches on my bracelet. It's a simple silver bangle with an ornate blue jewel in the middle sitting between two tiny clams. Papa gave it to me. Papa said that no matter how far apart we are, we're still living under the same sky. Papa isn't usually wrong...

"Giulio!"

 _"_ _Up here."_ I pull away from the window, letting Celica's leash go. She settles herself down to stare out at, uh, whatever it is cats stare out of windows at.

I poke my head through the trap door. Katerina frowns at me from the other end of the hall, " _What are you doing up there_?"

" _I want this room_." I can already see where my bed would go, Celica's cat tree in the corner, the squishy blue rug on the floor, oh, and some glow in the dark star sticker on the walls! Yeah, it's gonna be awesome!

" _Giulio,"_ She says, with a face like she's just swallowed a lemon, _"That is the attic_."

So? " _It's upstairs_."

She opens her mouth, stops, takes a breath, and then stares up at the ceiling like it holds all the answers. She does that sometimes. I don't know why. The ceiling is as blank and boring as the rest of the empty house.

Obaa-chan pokes her head out of the other room and says something to her. It sounds reassuring, but she uses that happy tone most of the time so...

Katerina sighs and stares up at the ceiling again, this time pinching the bridge of her nose. " _Alright. But you can't change your mind later."_

" _I won't_!" Why would I? This is probably the coolest room in the entire house after all.

Katerina says something to the movers as they bring a big box up the stairs. One of them turns to look in my direction with their eyebrows raised. But they just shrug and get back to work.

Moving is noisy. People going in and out of rooms, boxes being unpacked, furniture assembled with lots of yelling and chatting too. The movers are all people who belong on the inside.

Even Papa belongs on the inside.

I belong on the outside, but sometimes I wonder what it would be like if I could exist on the inside like everyone else...

* * *

 **Just in case there's some confusion; Cielo is Giulio now, and Yoshitaka was Masamune.**

 **Let me know what you think so far.**

 **Love NyanNyan-suru**


	2. Target 01: First Impressions

**A/N**

 **Boom! Next chapter is done! Thanks and welcome to those that have favourited and followed the story so far!**

 **I love Kai and I hope you'll all love him too~**

* * *

" _Giulio, it's time to say goodbye to Celica_."

" _Why can't she come too?_ "

" _No. Ask me in Japanese."_

Auntie, why are you doing this to me? You know I can't. Ugh, here goes then, "W-why Celica, uh, go...can not... p-please...?"

She gives me a long look.

A really long look.

Yeah. I really don't know what she was expecting.

Finally, she answers. In Japanese. Because of course she does. "Pets are not allowed in school. Now say goodbye, we have to leave soon or we'll be late."

I stared hopelessly up at her long enough that even Katerina had to take pity on me and repeat herself in Italian. All things considered, it did not make me feel any better.

Celica curled around my ankles, purring comfortingly. She's all dressed up and ready to go with her fur brushed and orange harness on. Katerina has this weird rule about needed to put Celica on a leash whenever we go out to play. Celica doesn't appreciate it all that much; she's smart enough not to get lost after all.

She did not appreciate being left behind even more. It's not fair. Back home, my tutors would let me take Celica places. Why is it different at school?

And why do we have to wear these dumb sailor outfits?

Stupid black, long sleeve shirts with big, floppy collars, a bright red ribbon tied underneath it, a boring pair of black shorts, uncomfortable squeaky shoes, and a really dumb hat to top it off. It was the kind of outfit Donald Duck would wear, except he was a cartoon duck, so the look worked for him. On a person, it just looked silly.

At least I was not the only one stuck wearing this stupid thing. But Taka somehow managed to look okay, normal even. Maybe it was because he'd been to school before and was used to wearing dumb uniforms. Or it could have something to do with the fact that he could walk down the street without making a mess of himself.

It's not my fault I keep tripping and running into things! There are just so many more interesting things to pay attention to rather than watching where you're walking!

Like Celica pawing at the window, getting further and further and further away...

Poor Celica, stuck at home all alone... I hope she doesn't try to scratch up the furniture. Or start peeing everywhere. Katerina would be really mad if she did that.

Wait, did I close my window? I mean, I think I did, but I don't remember. Maybe we should go back and check. It would be bad if Celica got out and got herself lost. Katerina had said as much. And Papa always says family comes first. Yeah, we need to go back.

" _Keep up now Giulio_." Katerina snapped, taking a hold of my hand. " _We cannot be late on your first day_."

There goes any chance of turning around; Katerina loves being on time more than anything else. She likes it so much she schedules her whole day by the minute, just so she can be on time for every little thing, even bathroom breaks.

Being late for something would ruin her entire day, which would then ruin the day of everyone who had to deal with her.

Papa almost never makes plans, and when he does it's with the knowledge that something might happen that would blow those plans out the window. He's very good at adapting and making new plans on the fly though. If something happens to mess up Katerina's schedule, she has no idea what to do or how to cope.

Her schedules are boring, but if nothing else, she's consistent. The last few days have been kind of weird seeing Katerina in casual clothes. She looks like a completely different person in jeans and a t-shirt and her dark blonde hair in a simple ponytail.

It's kind of a relief to see her back in her usual suit jacket and creaseless skirt, hair up in a perfectly neat bun. The familiar click of her heels against the pavement is almost soothing even.

The effect does not last long as tall white buildings that made up Namimori Elementary loomed over us.

It's so noisy. There are kids running around, chatting, laughing, crying and screaming with no abandon. This is worse than the park. Though, it's weirdly relieving seeing everyone else wearing the same dumb uniforms as us; except the girls are wearing white skirts and their ribbons are tied into bows.

We all get to look like losers together.

...

I wish Celica was here...

" _Giulio_ ," Katerina has _that_ tone again, " _where is your hat_?"

" _Huh_?" I run my hand over my head, fingers meeting nothing but messy brown hair. " _Oh. I, um, I think I lost it_?" When did this happen? I definite had it on when we left the house.

Katerina takes a deep breath through her nose, carefully adjust her glasses, and turns her face to sky. Still looking for answers where there is a whole lot of nothing. The sky is too far away to give anyone answers.

* * *

Papa, it turns out, had hired someone to act as a translator until we're fluent enough to get by on our own. Taka, it turns out, is already pretty fluent in Japanese for some reason. So I, it turns out, get to have one Sasagawa Kyouko-sensei following me around all day.

She has a smile like knives, and no one else seems to notice. No one can be that happy all the time. That is a smile that hides secrets. Dark secrets. Secrets of the murder variety.

This day keeps getting worse.

After an incredibly awkward introduction, wherein people failed to pronounce my name correctly, we were sat down at desks on different sides of the room. I was painfully aware of Kyouko-sensei hovering over my shoulder the entire time.

But even a creepy smiley lady couldn't take away how completely and utterly boring school is turning out to be. Literally all we do is sit quietly at desks for hours while the teacher rambles on about something or other. Maybe if I could actually understand what he was saying, things might be different.

As is stands, my lack of Japanese means relying in Kyouko-sensei. Oh the joy.

With her there I couldn't zone out and stare out the window either. Fortunately, she would occasionally wander over to Taka's desk to check up on him.

It was during one of these times that the teacher decided he needed to call on me. The entire class seemed stop and turned to stare at me while I tried to figure out what he wanted. Did he forget I couldn't understand his gibberish already? Please, feel free to leave me alone.

Kyouko-sensei came back over brandishing her razor-sharp smile. It was so bright she seemed to sparkle. " _Giulio-kun, do you know the answer to the problem on the board?"_

Curses, I've been foiled. Now I don't have an excuse not to answer.

Okay, fine. We're doing math. Not my best subject. I don't recognise the problem written on the board either, but the teacher was still looking at me expectantly. "I don't know." I told him.

The entire class burst out laughing.

What's so funny? Did I mess up my pronunciation that badly? But "I don't know" and "I don't understand" are one of the few things I actually know how to say. I looked over at Taka for answers, but he was busy hiding behind his book.

Well, he's too far away to help anyways. Japanese people probably just have weird senses of humour.

While the teacher yells at everyone to be quiet (or I assume that's what he's saying) Kyouko-sensei pulls up a chair and goes over the problems in the workbook with me. She may be a creepy person that smiles too much to be healthy, but, hey, she's knows a thing or two about math.

The teacher takes the hint and doesn't bother me for the rest of the morning.

* * *

It feels like forever before lunch time finally rolls around. I managed to evade Kyouko-sensei while she was distracted talking to the teacher.

I found a nice quiet spot to sit under a tree at the edge of the playground and ate the sandwiches Katerina packed for lunch while watching all the kids running around. There really are a lot of kids at school. Way more than you'd see at the park. I should probably try the whole "friend making" thing Papa had suggested.

Where do you even start? Is there some sort of rule or code you have to follow, or do you just walk up to someone and ask to be friends? That's not going to help me much if no one speaks my language.

In a sea of brown and black, Yoshitaka's blonde hair stood out like a sore thumb. He seemed to be doing okay in the friend department, given he was already running around after a ball with a group of boys. They all looked pretty happy, so they must be having fun. Maybe I should just ask to play with them?

No, wait. I've tried that before haven't I?

It never works out. They won't tell me how to play their games and then they complain when I don't know how to play (which is really not fair). I always end getting ditched or outright pushed out of the game. Then Taka usually gets pushed out too for letting me play, and then we both end up alone.

Now that I think about, that's probably why he left me behind at the start of lunch. I guess that's fair. Kind of...

So, how should I go about making some of my own friends then? Everyone else seems to have already established their groups of friends. It would be weird to try and push myself in one of them, wouldn't it? I am an outsider. They're clearly all insiders. This might be a lost cause.

...I miss Celica. I wouldn't need to make friends if she was here to play with me.

" _Ara? Giulio-kun, what are you doing over here by yourself?"_ Kyouko-sensei in all her sparkly glory materialises out of freaking nowhere, crouching down in front of me.

Argh, what do you want? Leave me alone, I'm trying to make some friends here!

" _Nothing..."_ I mutter and move to stand with every intention of escaping to find another quiet space to plot my friend making endeavour. Only to be stopped dead when her hand came to rest on my shoulder.

She giggles, and tucks a strand of light brown hair behind her ear. " _How about you come and play with sensei on the swings?"_ She stood up excitedly, clapping her hands together like she just had the best idea in the universe. The sparkles have intensified to a terrifying level.

I looked over at the long line of rowdy kids waiting for a turn by the swing set. I can already see all the pushing and shoving involved in waiting in that line, not to mention the all the glaring and angry shouts to let others have a turn. Yeah, definitely not a good idea...

 _"_ _No thanks. Don't like the swings that much anyway…"_

" _Yep, it'll be fun!"_ She proceeded to ignore me, grabbing my hand in an iron grip and dragging me towards the swings.

 _"_ _Didn't you hear what I just said? I don't want to!"_ No matter how hard I struggled she just wouldn't let go. " _Oi, are you listening to me?"_

" _There's no need to be shy! We're all friends here_!"

That's definitely not the case! I knew it! Stupidly happy people can't be trusted!

Just when it seemed all hope was lost, a loud squeal of "Kyouko-sensei!" from a pair of girls running towards us was enough to distract her. I made a break for it when she conveniently let go of my hand to look at whatever the heck they were showing her.

I ran until I was out of breath, ducking around corners, and through buildings to ensure I lost the crazy. Of course, this had the side effect of ensuring that I was completely lost with no idea how to get back to my classroom.

Wonderful.

I doubt there is anything that could make this day much worse than it already is.

* * *

Somehow I managed to find my classroom again, like an hour or so later. The teacher was probably scolding me, but since Kyouko-sensei was thankfully nowhere in sight I felt justified in ignoring his gibberish. He just sighed and went back to the lesson, which I also plan to ignore.

I can't remember where I was sitting before lunch so I flopped into a random seat at the back of the class

"Cross dressing is against the rules, herbivore." The boy in the seat beside me growled. "And you're crowding me. Move somewhere else."

" _Shut up already, and leave me alone. I don't speak Japanese."_ I'm too tired to care anymore. I just want this day to be over.

" _I said; get out of my face herbivore."_ He countered in lightly accented Italian. Curses, foiled again.

I looked up into the boy's irritated, yet pretty, steel grey eyes. He had short tidy hair that could either be a dark brown, or a really dark red. The ends were a bit lighter and definitely more of a red though. But then again, that could just be a trick of the light. All in all, he had a pretty nice face. The word "cute" could describe him pretty well.

 _"_ _Move now herbivore."_ Clearly this was one of those don't judge a book by its cover things.

" _Why should I?"_ I snapped back defiantly, straightening up in my seat for extra height. He wasn't impressed. Probably because, even on my tippy toes, I'd still be shorter than him.

Ugh, freaking tall people.

 _"_ _You're crowding me, that is why."_ He leaned back and crossed his arms.

" _Humph, you're not my Papa. You can't tell me what to do. I'll sit here if I want to."_ I scoffed mimicking his posture.

That seemed to get to him. With a growl he stood up and slammed his fists on this desk. The sound echoed like a thunderclap as pencils and other miscellaneous bits of stationary rolled off the desk and onto the floor. _"Then I'll just have to make you move."_

I was momentarily distracted by the clatter of chairs and footsteps, as the rest of the class began running for their lives. In hindsight, this was probably a sign that I should have stopped and backed down then and there. But I've never been very good at reading between the lines.

 _"_ _Bite me."_ I declare, like an idiot with no idea what's about to happen.

But to be fair, I really did have no idea what was about to happen.

 _"_ _Oh, I will,"_ He slipped something shiny out from under his sleeves, " _to death."_

The next thing I knew I was being chased around the classroom by a crazy kid, wielding some kind of metal whip. Several desks, including the one I'd been sitting at, had been flung into the walls. There was something sharp on the end of the whip and it cut the sleeve of my uniform when I didn't dodge in time.

The next hit got me with the blunt part, right in the face.

It was when I was on the ground, cradling my face, and looking up at that stupid smug expression that I decided I was done running.

I got my free hand under me, a heat curling in deep inside my chest, and pushed off the ground, rushing him. His eyes widened in surprise moments before I crashed into him and we went sprawling onto the floor in a tangle of limbs. He was a lot less scary without the whip.

I'm not entirely sure what happened next though...

One moment we were rolled around on the floor, jabbing with fists, knees and elbows, along with biting, scratching, and hair pulling, the next thing I knew someone had me by the back of my shirt.

I looked up and was met with Kyouko-sensei and a smile that shone like the edge of a knife. " _That's enough fighting_."

At least the other kid looks just as disturbed as I was. Yep, I knew that smile could not be trusted. Glad to know someone else can see it too.

Still, I know how these things usually go and I am not taking to fall for this! " _He started it_!" I shout jabbing a finger in his direction to punctuate the point.

The jerk had the gall to look offended before slapping my hand away, " _I was merely handing out the appropriate punishment for breaking the rules."_

" _Appropriate punishment!?_ _Who died and made you king_!?"

" _I am Hibari Kai, the one in charge of discipline in this school_. _Remember it_." He puffed up all self-important-like.

A kid in charge of discipline in the school? As if! " _Says who?"_

" _Says me, that's who_!"

" _Yeah, right. I never even broke any of your dumb rules!_ " I'm free to sit wherever I want dammit!

He narrowed his eyes, lip curled into a sneer. " _Sawada Giulio_ , _you were crowding me_ ," How does he know my name!? " _And cross-dressing is against the school rules_."

I was stunned for a moment. Then felt hot embarrassment rise all the way up from the pit of my stomach to my face, " _I'm not a girl you asshole_!"

" _Your hair is long_." His glare did not let up.

Gee, thanks Captain Obvious. " _What does that have to do with anything!? Bastard, get over here, I'll kick your ass!"_

 _"_ _I'll bite you to death!"_

Our foreheads suddenly crashed against one another. " _That's enough now! No more fighting. Now, let's all make up and be friends_!" Kyouko-sensei had not lost her smile at all, but the temperature in the room had definitely dropped several degrees.

She then took the opportunity to notice we were both hurt, and promptly dragged us to the nurses' office. I was still reeling from that last attack, so I didn't have the energy to fight back.

This is how I ended up spending the rest of the school day in the company of a jerk that gave me most of my wounds, and a weird as heck nurse-doctor lady who kept cooing and calling us cute.

At least I got a lollipop for being good.

* * *

The school nurse is called Maede Sawako-sensei ("Call me Sawa-chan!") and she said I could come see her any time I want because I'm cute or something. As long as I keep getting treats, then I guess I don't mind seeing her again.

After trying it out, I've come to the conclusion that school sucks and I should go back to being home-schooled as soon as possible. Katerina made it very clear that this was not going to happen, and I was stuck going back to this dump for the foreseeable future.

She was also very upset I had gotten into a fight on the first day. Once again, it was not my fault. My face still hurts, and now I'm also grounded. Huzzah...

The only good part about today was coming home to find Celica sitting on the wall by the front gate like a protective gargoyle.

Guess I did leave my window open after all.

* * *

 ***whispers* Kyouko is a badass~**

 **Reviews are always loved!**

 **Until next time, NyanNyan-suru**


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